17 September 2014
Newsdesk
Mark Strong once brushed past Sir Ian McKellen so he could tell people about it.
The British star has had an illustrious career in front of the camera starring in box office hits such Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Kick-Ass.
Far from revelling in the glory of his A-list status, 51-year-old Mark says you won't find him hobnobbing with fellow actors.
"This is a privileged existence but it’s not real life,” Mark revealed to British magazine The Big Issue. “I don’t hang out with them [other actors]. All I do is go, ‘Look! There they are over there!’
"Funnily enough I remember when I first arrived at the National Theatre. I went to the canteen, sat down and looked up to see I was sitting opposite Ian McKellen. When he went up to get his pudding I went up to stand next to him and accidentally brushed against him so that I could say I’d brushed against Ian McKellen.”
Mark has three new films currently in production as well flick The Imitation Game due out later this year.
He stars alongside Keira Knightley and Benedict Cumberbatch in the code cracking thriller, based on the true story of Alan Turing's involvement in solving the Enigma Code during World War II.
“It’s interesting, it’s intelligent and Benedict is such a great actor,” Mark gushed. “This guy Turing, who arguably won the war and saved millions of lives, was essentially hung out to dry by the Establishment."
Mark can often be seen playing the villain in his films, but says there's still one baddie he still longs to play.
His co-star from '90s TV show Our Friends in the North, Daniel Craig, has gone on to become super sleuth James Bond, and now Mark has his eye on playing the spy's nemesis.
"The Bond villain would be the absolute pinnacle. They are almost as important as Bond himself because your hero is only as good as your villain so you have to have a good one for the hero to be truly heroic. I’m not ruling it out. We’ll just wait and see...” he smiled.
